After that encounter, there were no other surprises, though Luke didn't let his guard down and kept his eyes out for anything out of the ordinary. There was simply too much on the line for him to let anything else slip past him. The closer the day of the celebration approached, the more on edge he and the others were. Of course, their nervousness could be attributed to how excited they were about the event.It would be outrageous for anyone not in the know to assume they were concerned about the attack on the capital and that they were essentially traitors. The only way Luke could see it happening was if the person already had reasons to believe they were capable of doing that. They were in the clear, but that didn't mean they could be careless.Sariel had come through and located Zona. Luke had sent Tracy, with Laurel joining her. Laurel had said she didn't mind going as Tracy's backup,

It was finally time. Luke stood by the princess's side as crowds gathered in the capital. Despite how the celebration was pushed ahead of schedule, a lot of people still arrived on time. He considered that the princess might have lied, but he quickly discarded the idea, as she wouldn't have a reason to lie to him. It was likely that many of them had left early so they could arrive before the celebration.This had the unintended consequence of making things hectic as everyone had to deal with the sudden influx of people. Staring at the people, all Luke could think was how many of them would die and how many survivors there would be at the end of the attack. He already knew what would happen to the survivors, but the numbers might be bigger than originally predicted."Luke, what's wrong? You seem distracted," Princess Sweeney said."There are a lot of people," Luke said with a smile."It's to be expected. Everyone wants to come and see the celebration," she said. "What do you want to do

Luke's words only served to infuriate the knight, who couldn't believe his audacity. Who was he to speak that way? Just because he was a 'hero' didn't mean he could disrespect the princess. Sir Gilbert should have never allowed this scum so close to the princess, but she had insisted that everything was okay and not to interfere. He had listened to her.Ignoring the fallen man, Luke focused his attention back on the princess, who seemed to be in a state of shock. "You hit me.""Of course I did. Did you really think that I could simply forgive you and the angels for kidnapping me from my world?" Luke said as he approached her.Even though she scowled at him, he could see the fear in her eyes as she crawled back to get away from him. It seemed like she was finally understanding her situation. He had wondered if his punch had made her stupid by knocking her brain loose. It was no fun getting revenge on someone who didn't have the sense to realize what was happening."We told you that you

Amused by her words, Luke said, "Do you really think that they'll be able to take on all these demons? You really must have a lot of faith in them, or you're just grasping at straws."Princess Sweeney scowled but remained silent. She knew that the chances of the 'heroes' winning were slim. After all, no one had foreseen the demons attacking the capital out of the blue. It had never happened without warning before. They had somehow remained undetected by the angels, which was something she didn't think was possible.However, there was no one else she could rely on. Only the 'heroes' would be strong enough to take care of all the things, not that it stopped the knights from helping. It was impossible for them not to. Speaking of knights, she couldn't believe Sir Gilbert was dead. The man had been around for what seemed like forever, and now he was dead. It was unreal.Luke could tell that her mind was still reeling from everything that was happening and allowed her this brief moment to

Theodore scowled as he deflected the arrows aiming for Grace, who flinched at the sound of metal on metal. Neither of them expected to be cornered and attacked out of the blue by Alyssa and Steve. They hadn't even seen or heard them coming until they were nearly hit with arrows and fireballs. If Theodore hadn't been with Grace, she would have certainly died."What do you think you're doing?" he barked."You know perfectly well what we're doing," Alyssa said as she notched more arrows on her bow.Grace stared apprehensively at the black bow. Alyssa had shown it off to them, saying it was a Rare item she obtained while fighting the demons. It supposedly strengthened her arrows and could create copies of them after they left the arrow. One regular arrow would suddenly become a dozen arrows that could cut through stone. She was basically a walking armory."No, we don't," Grace said as she clutched her staff. "Aren't we friends?"Steve huffed. "You expect us to be friends with traitors lik